Roof Update

[ADKJack]

Thanks to Ward, Slamdog, Mace and Chief we have the new roof cut, bent machined and assembled. This is really exciting and we can not thank these gentlemen and especially Ward enough for there work on this over the fall and winter. You guys Rock
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3&pictureid=75
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3&pictureid=74
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3&pictureid=73

[Neil]

Many thanks guys. I'm looking forward to installing it. What I really mean is I'm looking forward to taking pictures of someone who knows what he's doing installing it.

[TBPDPTI]

Thats wonderful! Thanks so much for all of your hard work guys :) Is the roof made up of 4 modular parts? If not, how does one install it?

[ADKJack]

Thats wonderful! Thanks so much for all of your hard work guys :) Is the roof made up of 4 modular parts? If not, how does one install it?

Yup, 4 parts and carefully especially if it gets windy:eek:

Better design too we went with the larger sheets of galvanized metal to decrease the size of the seams on top. These guys have done an excellent job on design and fabrication:tup:

[Laurie Rankin]

Well done guys! A huge amount of work, carefully done. Now to plan for one of the rare calm days for installation! Thanks so much!

[Neil]

I suggested to Alistiar that the work crew should try and obtain permission to sleep up at the tower so as to install the roof at first light when the air tends to be calmest. Either that or prepare evrything the day before and start hiking up early enough the next day so as to arrive at the tower at 1st light.

[alistair]

Awesome job, Guys.
As usual, the pictures show Lance supervising the work not actually working.

I almost sent out a PM yesterday about having a “roof” discussion at the Winter Gathering.

[Commissionpoint]

Looks very nice. Great job!

As always I am available to work and pack mule. If I know early enough when the dates will be for this year I can generally request time off. Weekends in July and August are tough for me though.

[Kenmore]

Looks great. I hope - schedule permiting - I can make it to help with the install.

I notice in the photos - like all worthwhile projects - there were a few delicious beverages enjoyed while working on the roof.

[Gmac39]

very nice job!! Are these sections going to be packed up or flown in??

[bridgeman]

Looks nice.
I was wondering how long the galvanized will retain it's sheen. The roof should be visible from the space station.

[ADKJack]

Looks great. I hope - schedule permiting - I can make it to help with the install.
I will post dates when we get so more info

I notice in the photos - like all worthwhile projects - there were a few delicious beverages enjoyed while working on the roof.
But if they fell off the roof during this phase I do not think it would be:D fatal

very nice job!! Are these sections going to be packed up or flown in??
We are hoping to fly them in early spring, have to co-ordinate with the DEC

Looks nice.
I was wondering how long the galvanized will retain it's sheen. The roof should be visible from the space station.

As pretty as it is we are required to paint it :cry: green

[TBPDPTI]

Well, painting it will drastically extend it's life, so it's worthwhile. Plus, it will help to camouflage it to viewers of the tower on other Mts.

[slamdog]

Thanks Jack for posting the info. Ward and Dan Wilt, owner of Wilt Industries in Lake Pleasant got the galvanized, drew out the panels, cut and bent all the panels. We offer huge thanks to Dan for taking the time to do this, at no cost I might add. We've had the panels in the garage, but some things happend and we just couldn't get to them. The weekend we did the assembly when we were actually planning on going up to hit Santanoni, but it looked like Wardy was going to get called into work to plow due to the storm.
There are gaskets between the panels. We had to find just the right size piece of stiff tubing, and sharpen it on the grinder to cut the bolt holes in the gasket. Some of you may recall the pieces of angle iron that we disassembled at the summit from the old roof. All those holes had to match up. So underneath the roof we had to clamp everything together multiple times so we could mark, verfiy, (we probably had about a dozen pair of vice grips under the roof at times during the process and yes, we threw them at each other and often referred to each other as an idot (insert smile face)). The cold beer was opened when we got the last panel bolted together!
Now we need to go back up and get exact perimiter measurements and then modify the gaskets so that it fits exactly over the top.
Thankfully Mace and Ward have been designing and building things out of metal for over 30 years, and that was a big help. Along with the rest of the volunteers that have assisted, we look forward to getting everyone together for the assembly up on the mountain. I know we put $5,000 for the budget for this project, but I believe we are waaaaay under that amount (as we didn't have to pay anything for the fab work) and that leaves us more money for other projects! Onward, upward. L

[ADKJack]

The roof has made the flight and is on top of Mt Adams waiting to be uncrated and assembled
I would like to thank Ranger Jeffrey, Ranger Dubay, Clive Freind, Kris Alberga and the NYState police for the use of their helicopter to do the airdrop.
Simply getting the roof from the staging zone to the top of the mountain requires a lot of cooperation and planning, These gentlemen did and excellent job and it was a pleasure to play a small role in this segment of the tower restoration
A Big thanks also goes out to Ward:tup: He called me last night and made himself available to help. It was a great day with really special people.

[Neil]

The roof has made the flight and is on top of Mt Adams waiting to be uncrated and assembled
I would like to thank Ranger Jeffrey, Ranger Dubay, Clive Freind, Kris Alberga and the NYState police for the use of their helicopter to do the airdrop.
The simply getting the roof from the staging zone to the top of the mountain requires a lot of cooperation and planning, These gentlemen did and excellent job and it was a pleasure to play a small role in this segment of the tower restoration
A Big thanks also goes out to Ward:tup: He called me last night and made himself available to help. It was a great day with really special people.

I missed being a part of it by one day, but I hope you still think I'm a really special people. :D

A lot of great people are involved in this project. Yes indeed. That's what makes it all worthwhile.

[ward]

I just want to mention one important person jack hasnt mentioned yet..... and that would be ADKJACK. None of this would have been possible without Jack coordinating with all the aforementioned people. Big kudos to ADKJACK for all hes done for the Foundation and this tower.

[Neil]

I just want to mention one important person jack hasnt mentioned yet..... and that would be ADKJACK. None of this would have been possible without Jack coordinating with all the aforementioned people. Big kudos to ADKJACK for all hes done for the Foundation and this tower.

Couldn't have said it better myself. No Jack, no tower reno.

How many emails and PM's Jack?

[Laurie Rankin]

Way to make progress Jack! Some serious persistence must have been required to finally get this accomplished. Many hands make light work or many layers, more complications. You managed to get through them very well, especially when you consider what mother nature threw in as well.

Thanks to Ward as well for all of his assistance. Let us know when you are ready for the next steps to take place. I believe I have the 22nd on my calendar, correct?

[ADKJack]

I missed being a part of it by one day, but I hope you still think I'm a really special people. :D

OF course I do, if we went Tuesday I am sure you would have made the extra special list:eek:

How many emails and PM's Jack?
Just enough :)

Way to make progress Jack! Some serious persistence must have been required to finally get this accomplished. Many hands make light work or many layers, more complications. You managed to get through them very well, especially when you consider what mother nature threw in as well.

Thanks to Ward as well for all of his assistance. Let us know when you are ready for the next steps to take place. I believe I have the 22nd on my calendar, correct?

Thanks Laurie,
The next work weekend is the 21st. That is the Saturday of that weekend but Sunday would be the rain date in case we do not have good weather on sat. Right now the plan is to get the roof installed on the 21st:tup:
That wil be an exciting and challenging day but I look forward to seeing some of the masters work. (Masters being the guys that designed, assembled, disassembled and crated the roof see picture in post #1)

[ADKJack]

Friday May, 20th Slamdog, Mace, Ward, Tom headed into Mt Adams to do the prelim work done on site that would enable us to make a run on assembling the new roof on top of the Firetower. This included hauling a couple hundred pounds of tools, paint, safety equipment and hardware to the site. Keep in mind that in order to get there they had to ford the Hudson, since the bridge is out, and then carry it the 2.3 miles and 1800 foot of elevation to the top.
I was exhausted just thinking about that task but once on top they started getting down to business. First was getting to the blow-down area where the crated roof was airdropped. Then they un-crated and carried the panels to the base of the tower. They set up tarps to work under as the weather was not being overly cooperative and then laid out the roof panels and painted each one.
After that they hauled some of the 2"x10"x8' boards to the cab to prepare a secure scaffolding platform on which to work when starting the assembly process.
Is any one else as worn out as I am just reading this:eek: This was indeed strenuous back breaking work.
Saturday May 21stI met Kyler at 0400 in Syracuse and we headed up to Tahawus. At 0730 we are standing on the banks of the Hudson in Shorts, Sandles/Sneakers looking for the best place to attempt to cross the chilly flowing waters ourselves. We scoped out what looked like the best line and stepped in. The flow rate is still pretty strong and we shuffled across with the water slightly above the knees at the deepest parts. A word of caution. this crossing is do-able but it is not something to be taken lightly at this time. One slip in these water flows and temperatures they could easily be recovering the body somewhere around Troy:eek: Having safely made the ford we headed up to Adams. Ward, Mace and Tom had already gone up and we ran into Slamdog as we climbed. It was great to reach the top and see all the work they had done Friday. Had this not happened there is no way we would have gotten the job done on Saturday.
We got right to work as Ward and Mace laid out the gamplan for the day. We worked in teams with Ward, Mace and me on top and Kyler, Tomm and Slamdog managing the mid levels and ground work needed to transfer tools and materials up and down to our 47' high 7x7 work area.
Everything came together. A combination of good weather, great planning and tireless devoted manpower made the day fly by. The team worked very well together as we raised each panel from base to top via ropes and pulley. Mounting each panel and bolting them to the cab proved to be the most challenging as anyone who has done any type of metalwork can attest, there is simply no room for error. Ward and Mace did the hard work of lining the panels up and putting them into position for the next.
A picture is worth a thousand words so I asked Kyler to be the official record keeper of the event by taking pictures and video as the work went on. He will be posting those soon.
At 6:20 that evening we hauled up the last and hardest panel to be installed. No one had really talked about it but we all new that if we did not get this installed we would have to disassemble all the work we had done to that point. You see the hardest part of installing the last panel is you have to work in a very awkward position supporting the weight of the panel against the wind with only your hands outside the cab structure. The Gods Smiled on us as after some struggle the second corner dropped into place and we let out a hoot and holler that could be heard all the way to Long Lake:bang:
A little after seven we had installed the last structural bolt and headed down, after more than 12 straight hours of work. We did our final crossing of the Hudson as the sun was setting and was back in the parking lot at 2030.
I could not have asked for a better group of people to make this phase of the tower work come to fruition. The work in designing , gathering the materials, finding a supplier that was willing to donate his time to cut and bend the steel and sheet metal for us and then assembling,, disassembling and reassembling on top of the tower simply amazing. Slamdog, Ward, Mace and Chief are to be given full credit for taking on the biggest challenge to restoring this fire tower. You guys are #1 in my book:tup::tup::tup:
Next work date is Jun 11th as we continue the rest of the restoration. There is still a lot do but at least now we can do it with a roof over our heads.

[randomscooter]

I need a nap.

[Kyler]

I'll second everything that Jack said, and offer a big thanks to Jack for his behind the scenes work, scheduling, coordinating, working with the forest rangers, etc.

[ADKJack]

I'll second everything that Jack said, and offer a big thanks to Jack for his behind the scenes work, scheduling, coordinating, working with the forest rangers, etc.

Thanks,
Ummmmm Pictures:D

[Mavs00]

Thanks,
Ummmmm Pictures:D

Excellent work guys...... and yeah...... lets see some pictures. :D

[Kyler]

Pictures (http://picasaweb.google.com/104585539235284979387/MtAdamsRoofWork#)

Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Fw6XcFMME)

[ward]

awesome pictures kyler. thanks for the help and the documentation.
Job well done by everyone involved.

[slamdog]

We were so lucky to have had the rain stop on Saturday. The winds were up at times, but posed no problems. Great photos and video Kyler. Really captured what was done. One more step done. Now...some primer for the window frames!

[alistair]

You guys did a great job, I'd hire you anytime.
Sorry I couldn't join you.